Legal commentators are asking why Donald Trump would use a pseudonym in his non-disclosure agreement with adult film star Stormy Daniels.
New York attorney, Colleen Kerwick, told Newsweek that using an alias is rare in a such a case. "It is unusual for a non-disclosure agreement to use pseudonyms as the agreement itself would be subject to the confidentiality clauses within it," she said.
Evidence in the former president's hush money trial in New York shows both Trump and Daniels used fake names when signing the legal paperwork. They were only identified in a side agreement which was for the eyes of lawyers only.
Daniels' lawyer, Keith Davidson, gave evidence that he drafted the agreement. In it, Daniels is identified as Peggy Peterson, as P is the first letter in the word Plaintiff and Trump is identified as David Dennison, as D is the first letter in the word Defendant.
There was a David Dennison on Davidson's high school hockey team, which is why he chose the name for Trump, he testified in court.
Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, is the first former president in United States history to stand trial in a criminal case. He has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records to hide payments to Daniels.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg seeks to prove that before the 2016 presidential election, Trump paid, or discussed paying, Daniels not to discuss an alleged affair they had. Trump denies the affair and says the charges are all part of a witch hunt against him.
Newsweek reached out to Trump's attorney via email for comment on Thursday.
"Using a John Doe name isn't a crime, but it's a building block for a case about a cover up. It was never a crime to purchase the intellectual property rights in someone's story," Kerwick added.
"The alleged crime is the falsification of records to cover it up," she said.
MSNBC legal correspondent, Katie Phang, wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday that there was no plausible reason why Trump would not use his real name in the agreement. "Why would Trump use a pseudonym in a confidential settlement agreement unless he was trying to HIDE something?" she wrote.
Phang, host of MSNBC's The Katie Phang Show, noted that Trump's lawyer, Michael Cohen, insisted that only he possess a copy of a side agreement that identified Trump and Daniels' real names.
"There was a Side Letter Agreement (SLA) that was used to identify the identity of the two parties involved and is designed to be for 'attorneys' eyes only.' Davidson testifies that Michael Cohen demanded that only he have possession of the SLA, which was unusual," Phang wrote.
Newsweek sought email comment from Michael Cohen's attorney on Thursday.
Political commentator, Brian Krassenstein, noted on X on Tuesday that jurors laughed when they heard Davidson's explanation about how he chose Trump's pseudonym.
"When questioned whether 'David Dennison' was an actual person, Davidson humorously responded: 'Yes, he was on my high school hockey team.' This prompted laughter among some jurors, especially when prosecutor Joshua Steinglass further inquired about how Dennison felt about the situation, to which Davidson replied, 'He's very upset," Krassenstein wrote.
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Sean O'Driscoll is a Newsweek Senior Crime and Courts Reporter based in Ireland. His focus is reporting on U.S. law. ... Read more
